LAWRENCE -- They're as different as corn rows and crew cuts, but they have the same problem. Neither Mitch Bowles nor Dustin Curry has been able to do enough to get Kansas over the hump.

Bowles is the Jayhawks' big-play halfback from Las Vegas. Curry is their small-play halfback from Waverly.

Each, in his own way, is under-used.

KU has pulled off 24 plays that have gone 25 or more yards this season. Bowles has been in on seven of them. He leads the team in all-purpose yards, averaging 134.8 per game and 10.2 every time he touches the ball.

"Mitch is a big-play individual," Kansas coach Terry Allen said. "(He has) speed and hands, and he has the ability to come out of a pile, and that's a God-given talent.

"You wonder sometimes, could you afford to have him touch the ball 40 times a game? Would he hold up? I don't know. I think the best thing for Mitch is to touch it about 20 times a game, if not as a receiver as a running back or a kickoff returner."

But in Saturday's 31-24 loss to Baylor, he carried just 14 times and caught only one pass.

"I'm not satisfied because we're losing," Bowles said. "If we were winning and I was doing just as much or less, I'd be happy. But what we're doing is not working, so we need to do more of it or do something different."

Curry has bulled his way to third on the team in rushing, averaging 5.3 yards every time he touches the ball. Yet he's carried just 20 times this season.

Allowing for the diminutive stature of his halfbacks -- starter David Winbush is just 5-foot-7, 175, and Bowles is 5-8, 190 -- Allen said during the preseason that Curry, a 6-foot, 205-pound former Capital-Journal All-Stater, probably would be the Jayhawks' man in short-yardage situations.

The problem is, KU hasn't had that many short-yardage situations.

"We're feast or famine a lot of the time," Allen said. "It happens so rarely. I don't know if we've had more than a half-dozen third-and-ones."

Allen lamented that he missed a made-for-Curry moment against Baylor. Kansas, leading 24-21, faced a third-and-2 at its own 49. The handoff went to Bowles, who was dropped for a loss of 2 yards.

With the Jayhawks set to play Nebraska on Saturday in Lincoln, this could be a made-for-Curry week.

"The physical nature of the Nebraska defense, running Dustin up inside, which is his forte, is something we have to take a look at," Allen said.

Certainly, that would suit Curry, but not as well as a Kansas win.

"Every football player wants to be in as much as he can," he said. "Sometimes you think maybe if you could get in there, you could help the team, but overall, losing is the most frustrating thing."